


C A I N

by SlytherclawHomunculus



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Azula is possessed, Creepy art included, Gen, Horror, I hurt zuko because I love him, Minor Character Death, Okay both Raava and Vaatu are parasites, Parasitic Raava AU, Song Lyrics, Songfic, Zuko is also possessed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-15 22:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21260894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherclawHomunculus/pseuds/SlytherclawHomunculus
Summary: There have been mysterious deaths around the palace lately, animals that seem to have withered away like they had their vitality drained from them. No one can explain the phenomenon, and it's not long before a young Prince Zuko falls mysteriously ill in the night. Ursa isn't sure things can get any worse, but Azula has her own dark secrets to unfold...





	C A I N

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! :D
> 
> Based on the song Cain by Cousin Marnie
> 
> I do actually plan on making an animatic with the song, but I didn't have enough time before Halloween to make it. :'D

**Stranger in the dark,**  
**The lonely night,**  
**Heard your mother calling.**

A massive victory had been procured for the Fire Nation. The death of the Earth Kingdom's Avatar. But unbeknownst to the brave men and women serving the Fire Nation at the siege of Ba Sing Se, at the same time a terrible plague had been unleashed upon Cauldera City.

Before the Avatar could even be confirmed dead, something began to plague the Fire Nation palace. Servants would find the withered bodies of animals. Their bodies emaciated, eyes milky and blank, blood leaking from the nose and mouth. Besides this, there was no obvious cause of death, they all looked like creatures that simply shriveled up and died.

**Stranger in the dark,**  
**The lonely night,**  
**Heard your mother calling.**

Azulon was working late into the night, when he was disrupted by the weakened howls of a dying dog. He rose from his seat, as he had already dismissed his servants, and he might as well deal with the hound himself.

The only warning he got were a pair of blazing eyes glaring from the dark.

**Where you been, Cain?**  
**Where you been?**  
**Where's your brother?**

_The old one was too weak._

_Not enough vitality._

_Need someone younger._

**Where you been, Cain?**  
**Where you been?**  
**Where's your brother?**

When Azulon's body was found, his eyes were milky white, his skin grey and freezing cold. He had been completely drained of vitality. They burned his body right away to prevent it from rising again. They lit Agni's alter and left a generous offering of fresh rice to appease his spirit.

They hoped that would be the end of it.

**Abel in the dark,**  
**Abel in the night,**  
**Heard his brother calling.**

Zuko wandered the darkened halls of the palace in the night. He had been roused from his sleep by the sounds of a distressed kitten. He held a small flame in his hand, calling out for his kitten who had gone missing recently.

"Tart?" He called gently into the dark. "It's okay boy, come on out."

"_**Mrrrroowww...**_"

Zuko rushed into the dark, nearly extinguishing his flame. "Tart?!"

He stopped at the sight of an emaciated cat. He couldn't see the cat clearly, but he was too scared to fully check.

**Abel in the dark,**  
**Abel in the night,**  
**Heard his brother calling.**

The cat was bone thin, it's breath coming out in rasps, and it's fur clumped and matted.

"T-Tart?"

**Watch your sin, Cain,**  
**Watch your sin.**  
**I'm your brother.**

**Watch your sin, Cain,**  
**Watch your sin.**  
**I'm your brother.**

Zuko backed up as the cat advanced upon him. Blazing white eyes staring through him.

Then it lunged.

**The light goes down!**

**A mark from God.**

Ursa rushed in as soon as she heard the scream. But by the time she got there, Zuko was lying limply on the ground. He was pale and burning up, mumbling incoherently. A dead cat was lying beside him, eyes milky white, blood dripping from it's mouth and nose, body bone thin and drained of life. Tart was kneading Zuko's chest and looked up at Ursa, crying desperately.

**You're shaking now.**

Ursa was unable to stop shaking, her breath coming in uneven puffs as the family physician looked over Zuko. Ozai held a firm hand on her shoulder, but his face betrayed no emotion. Ursa wanted to tear away, and sob hysterically while cradling her sickly child. But, she reminded herself as tears pricked her eyes, the _Fire Lady does not cry_.

So she bit her lip until all she could taste was blood.

**Your brother's blood, left alone.**

Ursa's mind kept flashing back to the blank, milky stares of the animals and even Fire Lord Azulon. Her heart throbbed harder as she remembered the murky look of Zuko's own eyes. Blood threatened to drip down her chin as she thought of her son's pale, barely coherent form. Too weak to even cry for help. As the physician looked over him, he did seem to gain some of his strength back, it would relieve Ursa if it weren't for the fact that he still remained very much incoherent.

Then he began to shriek.

**"What have you done?!"**

Zuko cried out in his delirium. Ursa pulled away from her husband and rushed over to her son's side.

"Shh, shh, it's okay Zuko, I'm here." Ursa soothed.

**Your father's boy,**

Zuko clutched his Mother's collar, desperate.

"Please Mom, _please!_" Her son begged.

"Please what? What is it Zuko?"

"_Make her stop. Make her stop._"

"Wh-who? Make who stop?" Ursa asked, fear dripping into her tone. "What are you talking about Zuko?" Please don't tell me Azula did this-

"She's right behind you-" Zuko moaned. "I-I-I don't she has a face. I can't see it- Make her go away, Mom. _Please, just make her go away..._"

Ursa made a strangled sound. Her inner flame going cold. The physician stepped in from behind her.

"You need to rest now, my prince." He said.

"NO!" Zuko shrieked. "GET HER AWAY FROM ME!"

Ursa could only watch as the royal physician and attendants held Zuko down and drugged him.

**Your mother's son.**

**Adam in the dark,**  
**Adam in the night,**  
**Had a father calling.**

Iroh immediately made his way home as soon as he caught wind on Zuko's sudden illness. He had already lost his father and his own son, he wasn't about to loose his beloved nephew too!

When the stories of the mysterious deaths reached him...

The dragon's fire went _cold_.

**Adam in the dark,**  
**Adam in the night,**  
**Had a father calling.**

While he was away, Ozai had been crowned Fire Lord. Fine, he didn't protest. Iroh wasn't ready to rule a whole nation, as his heart was much to heavy with grief.

The new Fire Lord greeted Iroh with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Iroh gave a polite smile back and asked to see his nephew. Ozai didn't seem at all heartbroken that Iroh didn't want to catch up with him.

X~X

Iroh tried not to cringe at the condition his nephew was in. His eyes were a murky gold, he was writhing and feverish, whimpering and mumbling incoherently. It took everything in Iroh to not scoop up his nephew and cradle him in his arms, cooing into his ears about how everything was going to be okay.

Iroh could sense another inner flame in the room with him. His eyes hardened.

The dragon coiled up.

"Do you know who did this to him?" The dragon asked.

"No..." It was Ursa. She was so quiet, Iroh could barely hear her. Iroh turned to her, eyes soft.

"It's late, Ursa. You should get some rest, I'll look after him."

Ursa simply nodded and left.

**Man and sin, Cain.**  
**Man and sin,**  
**Love each other.**

Iroh looked over Zuko's sleeping form. He had finally seemed to settle down. Only occasionally mewling from Iroh could only guess was pain or fear. He gently stroked his nephew's face. He couldn't stop picturing his own son laying there, staring up at him as his life left him.

Zuko began to whimper again.

"Easy there, Zuko, I'm here."

"Uncle?"

"Yes, Zuko, it's me." Iroh said, smiling tiredly. He held his feverish nephew's hand.

"I-I'm sorry Uncle..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Zuko." Iroh said gently.

"U-Uncle, I-" Zuko's voice wavered. Tears gathered in his now even murkier eyes. "It-it was me, I'm so sorry-"

Iroh didn't at all feel Zuko had anything to apologize for, but decided to humor his ill nephew anyway. "What did you do then?"

"I-" His voice was barely a whisper, his eyes misty and lost. "I killed Lu Ten."

**Man and sin, Cain.**  
**Man and sin,**  
**Love each other.**

A shiver ran down Iroh's spine. Why, why would Zuko claim that he killed Lu Ten. He felt the heat drain from his face, he clamped down on Zuko's hands harder to stop his own from shaking.

"The Avatar killed Lu Ten. That's not your fault, Zuko. You had nothing to do with it." He thought of the site, the Avatar, in the avatar state, at the breach in Ba Sing Se's walls. He had managed to strike down a massive swath of the Fire Nation's army before being struck down and overwhelmed by fire.

The Avatar killed Lu Ten, Iroh reminded himself. The Avatar who died at the same spot it happened.

**Eve in the dark,**  
**The lonely night,**  
**Only mother calling.**

Unable to sleep, Ursa took a night stroll around the palace halls. The look in Zuko's eyes still haunted her. Murky, lost, terrified. And she couldn't help him! She took a breath and exhaled a small flame into her hands. Ultimately the action did more to calm her inner fire than her emotions. She looked back to the direction where Zuko's room was. She trusted Iroh, she really did. She knew that he would love and care for Zuko like his own son.

But-

She still couldn't sleep. She couldn't relax. The image of her son's murky, clouded eyes haunted her like the specters of war haunt soldiers. She paused and looked back at Zuko's room. It wouldn't hurt to just check on him, right. Sure, Iroh is watching him, and he would alert someone right away if her son's condition had worsened, but she couldn't escape the nagging fear that ate at her like hungry flames.

**Eve in the dark,**  
**The lonely night,**  
**Only mother calling.**

Ursa was about to start heading in her son's direction when the faint sound of footsteps caught her attention. She turned around, inner flame at the ready just in case.

**Where you been, Cain?**  
**Where you been?**

It was just Azula though. She relaxed herself, seeing that it was only her daughter, but she still felt unnerved. Azula had been acting _strangely_ lately. Well, Azula always displayed concerning behavior, but it seemed to _worsen_ lately. She was never the... friendliest child. But with the mysterious deaths around the palace, she only seemed to become more mean, and distant. Ursa assumed that Azula was simply acting out from fear.

Or at least, that's what she wants to believe.

She called out to her daughter, gently reaching a hand forward.

"Azula, dear, are you alright? Why are you up? Did you have a nightmare?"

**Where's your brother?**

**Where you been, Cain?**  
**Where you been?**

Azula stepped forward, now only partly covered in shadows.

"Mother," She said evenly.

Ursa shivered, but stood her ground.

"I could ask you the same, you know? Of course you're probably still just fretting over poor _Zuzu_." Her eyes flickered away, a twinge of sorrow flashing through them. "You always cared more about _him_, than _me..._"

Ursa balked. How could she think? "No, Azula I love you just as much as I love-"

"**LIAR**!" Azula snapped. Her eyes almost seemed to glow for a moment, the rage on her face settled to a more eerie blank look. "You never loved me. Everyone is afraid of me -_as they should be_\- Even you fear me."

"No, Azula." Ursa said firmly. "I _love_ you. I always have."

"I can smell your fear, Mother."

Ursa shivered.

**Where's your brother?**

**The light goes down!**

Azula lunged at Ursa, eyes blazing a pale purple. She threw massive blasts of blue flame. Ursa only barely dodged, almost too shocked to move. She pulled herself together and cancelled out the fireblasts as best she could with her own.

**A mark from God.**

**You're shaking now.**

Ursa struggled to steady her breath. Had the attacker been anyone else, and she would have incinerated them. But her _own daughter_? Her troubled, but beloved Azula?

She shuddered.

**Your brother's blood, left alone.**

"_**Come on Mother, hit me**_!" Azula demanded, her voice layered with the voice of another. Ursa was struck down by a blast of wind. Had- had Azula just airbent? But, the Avatar is dead... how?

**"What have you done?!"**

Ursa shrieked.

Azula smirked, Ursa shuddered.

**Your father's boy,**

Ice and stone suddenly encased Ursa's feet and legs, leaving her unable to evade Azula's attacks.

**Your mother's son.**

**The light goes down!**

Another fireball flew in, cancelling out Azula's attack.

**A mark from God.**

**You're shaking now.**

Staring at the form of Zuko standing there, eyes blazing white, Ursa could feel the heat drain from her inner flame.

Her children, how had-

Wh-what happened?

**Your brother's blood, left alone.**

"Zuko?" Ursa tried.

Zuko looked over at her, blazing eyes staring right through her.

**"What have you done?"**

Ursa could only barely whisper at the sight before her.

He gave no answer, he and Azula simply lunged at each out, Zuko cutting through Azula's attack and striking her directly.

**Your father's boy,**

The glow faded from Azula's eyes as she crumpled to the ground.

**Your mother's son...**

Zuko stumbled as the light faded from his eyes and he collapsed to the ground with a whimper.

**Author's Note:**

> Ursa, your children are possessed.
> 
> Clarification in case anyone needs it-  
Zuko has a kitten in this AU, his name is Tart and he's a flame point. :3  
The cat that attacked Zuko was a random stray who incidentally was terrorizing Tart before deciding to go after Zuko instead.  
Zuko has been possessed/infested by Raava, and Azula has been possessed/infested by Vaatu.  
Raava didn't intervene to help Ursa. Seriously, she doesn't care(and Zuko was not at all in control).
> 
> (I kinda want to write a regular fic based on this idea, lmao)
> 
> I have a tumblr where I post AU ideas and art- https://carnistcervine.tumblr.com/


End file.
